Unified messaging systems are well known. These systems redirect incoming electronic messages from a user's many message boxes, e.g., email, voicemail, fax, to one ‘unified’ inbox. The systems are designed to improve efficiency for recipients by allowing them to monitor a single inbox for electronic messages of many different types. Typically, these systems are used in large corporations that have sophisticated email servers on which all electronic messages can be directed into a single inbox, most often and email address. While these systems have some utility in an integrated corporate environment they are not truly ‘unified’ because they are not designed to handle all the types of messages, e.g., text messages, used in modern business.
Also known, in corporate email servers and otherwise, is the ability to route incoming messages from a single published message address to multiple other message boxes according to automatic rules that can be designed and implemented by the published address owner. Although the owner of such a published message address can receive messages in the way he wants (preferred box and format), he cannot control use of his published address, which may be sold to spammers. A further problem is that the published address is often the username for other Internet computing resources. In addition, if the recipient changes her messaging address, for reasons of security or otherwise, she must communicate the change to all senders, each of whom must continually update their address books in an ongoing burden.
What is desired in another respect, therefore, is a system, which keeps message addresses private but still allows incoming messages to be routed to one of several electronic inboxes as desired by the recipient/owner. Also desired is the ability to route incoming messages to a private address to an electronic box of a different messaging format, and the ability to limit incoming messages to an approved sender list. The ability to route the messages according to a matrix of parameters such as sender, time, date, etc. is also desirable.